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To investigate large structural clonal mosaicism of chromosome X, we analysed the SNP microarray intensity data of 38,303 women from cancer genome-wide association studies (20,878 cases and 17,425 controls) and detected 124 mosaic X events >2 Mb in 97 (0.25%) women. Here we show rates for X-chromosome mosaicism are four times higher than mean autosomal rates; X mosaic events more often include the entire chromosome and participants with X events more likely harbour autosomal mosaic events. X mosaicism frequency increases with age (0.11% in 50-year olds; 0.45% in 75-year olds), as reported for Y and autosomes. Methylation array analyses of 33 women with X mosaicism indicate events preferentially involve the inactive X chromosome. Our results provide further evidence that the sex chromosomes undergo mosaic events more frequently than autosomes, which could have implications for understanding the underlying mechanisms of mosaic events and their possible contribution to risk for chronic diseases.

Investigations of noninvasive prenatal screening for aneuploidy by analysis of circulating cell-free DNA (cfDNA) have shown high sensitivity and specificity in both high-risk and low-risk cohorts. However, the overall low incidence of aneuploidy limi...

Fragile X is the most common inherited cause of mental retardation with a prevalence of 1 in 4000 for males and 1 in 5000 to 8000 for females. The American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics has recommended diagnostic testing for fragile X in s...